Union Pacific doubling tracks out of Kirby

By Jeff B. Flinn, Managing Editor :
March 19, 2013

Work crews will be closing the Rittiman Road rail crossing Saturday as part of Union Pacific's upgrade to its rail service in and out of the Kirby Rail Yard.

Motorists will have to find a detour around the expected one-day closure on Rittiman, just north of the Foster Road-FM 78 intersection, as Union Pacific crews crack asphalt and lay a second set of tracks and panels — part of the firm's installation of a second rail line along a seven-mile stretch from the Kirby rail yard to Converse.

Ivan Jaime, U.P. director of community affairs, said the installation of the second line will allow the company to simultaneously move trains in both directions. Currently, with just a single track spanning the Kirby-to-Converse section, an outbound train has to wait on a side track while a passing inbound train occupies the lone track. Once that train has passed, only then can the idled train resume its travel.

“When you have a single main track, it creates a bottleneck,” Jaime said. “A double track ... creates directional flow, dramatically increasing the amount of trains getting into and out of the Kirby rail yard.”

The UP rail line that extends east out of Kirby “is a very active main track,” he said, a primary artery for international business coming from Asia that unloads in Long Beach, Calif., and travels through El Paso and into Kirby, on its way to points east, including Houston and Atlanta.

“Clearly, for high traffic rail lines, it helps to have two tracks. Our customers depend on us to get their goods to their destination as quickly as possible. These types of investments – all done with private funding – allow us to provide better access to our customers,” he said.

Trains running on double tracks could also reduce wait time for motorists.

“(Double tracks) increase fluidity for motorists; the time they sit at tracks is actually reduced,” he said. “When you have two trains running at the same time, you may reduce the number of crossings that are closed at any given time.”

The portion of work that impacts motorists and Metrocom residents along the seven-mile stretch should be completed by mid-summer.

“The double track should be complete by mid-year,” he said, “and we should have completed the bridgework over Gibbs-Sprawl by June 30, so that traffic should be open by then.” U.P. will then spend several months finalizing the track tie-ins down the line.

“The growth in this region has been dramatic. Traffic into and from Mexico has been strong for the past couple of decades, and with the drilling growth in Texas — it's very akin to highway growth, as the population grows and moves,” he said. “Union Pacific evaluates major consumption and we're always trying to find better ways to service our customers.”